How Skipping the Cart Could Save you $50 or More at the Grocery Store

Many people complain that they run into the store for that one thing and come out spending $50 or even $100. One way I avoid that is to skip the cart.

It's habit. You walk into the store and throw your purse into the cart. You can strap your kid in too - so in theory you can move faster. You're on a mission. Grab the milk and go. You start to barrel down the isle, and "Oh. That's a good deal." Into the cart it goes. And more goes. And more. This is compounded by your beautiful child who has to have puffy Cheetos and will scream until they have a big bag in their arms. Until you pass the Diego/Dora cereal. Got the milk, finally. Off to the register with a cart full of stuff.

This is why I skip the cart when I can. I can only buy what I can carry. It's pretty tough when my child is joining me on the excursion. It’s a lesson in patience and restraint, for both of us. We toddle down the isle. She’s a “big girl” now, so she wants to walk and also grab something to carry herself. Presently, the only tantrum-inducing product in the store is puffy Cheetos, so we avoid that isle. But she still needs to grab hold of something and carry it.

We make it to the milk. Since I only have one free hand, I grab the gallon and we start our trek to the register. My daughter usually has to surrender whatever prize she’s found when we get to the checkout lane because it was something random on an endcap that caught her eye.

Success. I’ve just left the store with milk, and only milk!

I realize that when my daughter is older and has picked something she truly wants, there will be different battle. But, I plan to keep up the no cart routine, because even when I surrender to her demands, I’ve still only given in to one more thing, and not a cartful. I can only cross my fingers that thing is puffy Cheetos!